Some players need more time than others to flourish. But after three years and five weeks, the Dallas Cowboys might finally be losing their patience with wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, who has failed to show signs of improvement since he entered the league.
The former third-round pick was primed for a big opportunity in Week 5. With CeeDee Lamb and KaVontae Turpin out, he should've operated as the team's secondary pass-catcher behind George Pickens. Clearly, that wasn't the case, leaving Tolbert facing an uncertain future in Week 6 and beyond.
The Cowboys Won't Give Jalen Tolbert Many More Opportunities
Instead of a Tolbert resurgence, the Cowboys saw former sixth-round pick Ryan Flournoy break out for a surprising six-catch, 114-yard performance. Dallas' passing game was on point all day long, with quarterback Dak Prescott feeding multiple receivers over and over and passing for 237 yards and four touchdowns. Tolbert, however, was nowhere to be found.
Despite playing 77% of the offensive snaps in Week 5, Tolbert failed to haul in his lone target. He didn't create any sort of separation, and that was despite having Pickens draw most of the defensive attention and being paired with star cornerback Sauce Gardner.
Tolbert has played the second-most snaps among Cowboys wide receivers (252) this season. Even so, he's up to just 10 catches on 19 targets for 101 yards (10.1 yards per catch) and zero touchdowns. He's only logged more than four targets twice this season, so either he has no chemistry with Prescott or he's just not getting open.
If his current trajectory remains, Tolbert is on pace for 34 catches and 343 yards — a noticeable regression from last year's 49-610-7 stat line.
Getting targets with Lamb and Pickens could be tricky, but the former has missed the past couple of games, and the latter only drew four targets in the win over the Jets. He simply wasn't a factor, and after watching Flournoy break out, the Cowboys might not have much of an incentive to keep Tolbert around for longer.
Brian Schottenheimer's team will now face the Carolina Panthers on the road, and they will be without Turpin and Lamb again. If Tolbert isn't a factor again, it's hard to believe he's going to be much better once both of them return and the Cowboys also get Jonathan Mingo back from injured reserve.
The Cowboys' new-look offense is firing on all cylinders without Tolbert contributing much, and while his trade value might be pretty much non-existent at this point, this team might be better off getting whatever they can for his services and focusing on the players that are actually making an impact for the passing game.